title: Can eating disorders become 'contagious' in group therapy and specialized inpatient care?
abstract: Eating disorders belong to the broad category of self-harming behaviours which may be acquired in a social learning process of imitation, identification and competition. Hence, we should question the possible dangers or unwanted side-effects in treating patients together within a common therapeutic setting. But little is known about the frequency and extent of possibly negative influences of treatment in a group format, the so-called risk of 'peer contagion' in group therapy and/or inpatient treatment. We review in this paper the rather scarce literature on this subject in order to stimulate more critical thinking and systematic research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Catholic University Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. walter.vandereycken@ppw.kuleuven.be
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vandereycken
mesh_terms: D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group